OT - Electrical Drawing Nomenclature

[TConnolly]

We've been having a discussion about naming conventions for our electrical drawings.

I've been using a PROJECT_NAME-WD-XX name format where XX designates the sheet number.

Another person uses a PROJECT NAME ED-XX format.

I've also seen drawings that use E-PROJECT_NUMBER-XX and I-PROJECT_NUMBERXX naming formats.

What do ya'll use.

 

[Sinc_green]

My current customer uses:

WD-PANEL_NUMBER-XX

 

[jstolaruk]

panel_number-E-revision-sheet

 

[todster]

Project-CC-*XX-A

CC= control cabinet or panel.
* = Indicates level (Ground, 2nd,...)
XX = sheet
A = Revision

 

[Paul T]

ProjectNumber-PanelNumber Rev Sheet

i.e., 002993-181 AA 01

However, that's the number that's in the drawing title block. Good enough, but for years now I've been a little more detailed in my own files. So, I typically have something that lets me find the drawing I'm looking for:

004410-010 AA 01 Line 1 Connection Diagram 01 of 05 - Drawing List.dwg
004410-010 AA 02 Line 1 Connection Diagram 02 of 05 - Machine Layout.dwg
004410-010 AA 03 Line 1 Connection Diagram 03 of 05 - Electrical Single Line Diagram.dwg
004410-010 AA 04 Line 1 Connection Diagram 04 of 05 - AC-DC Interconnect.dwg
004410-010 AA 05 Line 1 Connection Diagram 05 of 05 - DeviceNet Interconnect.dwg

So, when I need to find the ACAD file for a drawing it's pretty easy vs. just seeing a long list with sheets 1 to 37 or some such.

The final PDF that Doc Control gets is just 004410-010 Line 1 Connection Diagram.pdf and it has all five pages.


But Alaric, is your question regarding spaces, dashes and underscores in the drawing names? The damm underscores were required years ago for a lot of database systems; I'm not sure if that's still the case. Personally, I hate underscores; I can live with one or two hyphens; but I'd rather just see spaces to separate fields that make up the identifier.

 

[godfrey]

We use Project-WD-XXXX and M-XXXX.
The cabinet and panel layouts are M-4XXX.
The power is 10XX.
The comm architecture and PLC layout is 20XX
The 24 volt wiring is 21XX.
The 120 volt wiring is 22XX.
Single lines and PIDs are 40XX.

 

[GeoffC]

For our sheet numbering we use sections 0 to 9 and then a decimal point for drawings within each section eg section 1 power supply, section 2 safety, section 4 plc. as below
1.1 single line diagram
1.2 24Vdc supply

4.1.1 plc rack 1 slot 1
4.1.2 plc rack 1 slot 2

then when sheets are added numbering always makes sense, and over all projects sheet numbers are always consistent and logical

 

[Johnster]

ProjectNumber-PanelNumber Rev Sheet

But Alaric, is your question regarding spaces, dashes and underscores in the drawing names? The damm underscores were required years ago for a lot of database systems; I'm not sure if that's still the case. Personally, I hate underscores; I can live with one or two hyphens; but I'd rather just see spaces to separate fields that make up the identifier.

If I may present an opposing view ? (I work with a lot of legacy systems....like 30 year old legacy systems =)

I'd rather see an underscore than a space - It tells me that there is a charachter there, as opposed to a printer/copier/scanner error (it line-feeded too far...) If there is more than one underscore, it will be easier to notice this - ie- underscores are usually wider than spaces (in a non-fixed width font)

I'd also rather not use a dash - MS word (a fact of life in corporate America) has 2 different dash's (one is a dash, I don't know what the other one is called) but I'd rather that potential for confusion not be there. The same reason we skip "i" or "j" in the alphabet or specially annote "o" vs. "0" (letter o vs. the numeral zero)

Our plant numbering systems just sucks and is horrible, so I'm not gonna give you my current system =)

At my old place, we sold turnkey systems. Panel CP1 was pages 1000 to 1999 (CP2 was 2000 to 2999 etc).

1000 to 1004 - table of contents
1005 to 1049 - 3 phase 480w wiring (highest voltage in panel, incl supply, panel FLA and disconnect size
1050 to 1059 - 120vac control power
1060 to 1899 - remote I/O (first inputs, then outputs...)
1900 to 1999 - VFD parameters, reference procedures, notes, design criteria, network lengths, misc..
We had a system where the 3 phase motors were pages 1005 to 1039


This system was nice once you learned it, but to new customers (all of them) it took some learning. A few times we used up all the pages in an allocated ranges (ie- we had more than 9 120v pages) we just nudged the subsequent pages out for the rest of that panel. not a great solution, but there was a lot of legacy behind that system too (and I no longer work there =)

-John

 

[Tom Jenkins]

We use Project_Number_SequentialNubmer_SheetNumber

Having said that, I feel compelled to point out that the drawing number system used isn't really important. Over the years I've been exposed to dozens of systems, and they all work. There are only two things that count - first you need to make sure there is a distinct number for evey drawing, and second you need to apply the system consistently. If you follow these two guidelines your system will work. If you don't, it wont't.

 

[Paul T]

If I may present an opposing view ? (I work with a lot of legacy systems....like 30 year old legacy systems =)

I'd rather see an underscore than a space - It tells me that there is a charachter there, as opposed to a printer/copier/scanner error (it line-feeded too far...) If there is more than one underscore, it will be easier to notice this - ie- underscores are usually wider than spaces (in a non-fixed width font)

I'd also rather not use a dash - MS word (a fact of life in corporate America) has 2 different dash's (one is a dash, I don't know what the other one is called) but I'd rather that potential for confusion not be there. The same reason we skip "i" or "j" in the alphabet or specially annote "o" vs. "0" (letter o vs. the numeral zero)

Our plant numbering systems just sucks and is horrible, so I'm not gonna give you my current system =)

At my old place, we sold turnkey systems. Panel CP1 was pages 1000 to 1999 (CP2 was 2000 to 2999 etc).

1000 to 1004 - table of contents
1005 to 1049 - 3 phase 480w wiring (highest voltage in panel, incl supply, panel FLA and disconnect size
1050 to 1059 - 120vac control power
1060 to 1899 - remote I/O (first inputs, then outputs...)
1900 to 1999 - VFD parameters, reference procedures, notes, design criteria, network lengths, misc..
We had a system where the 3 phase motors were pages 1005 to 1039


This system was nice once you learned it, but to new customers (all of them) it took some learning. A few times we used up all the pages in an allocated ranges (ie- we had more than 9 120v pages) we just nudged the subsequent pages out for the rest of that panel. not a great solution, but there was a lot of legacy behind that system too (and I no longer work there =)

-John

Point. These days, however, I don't see nearly as many crummy copies from the Xerox (or whatever copier) as was common years ago.

I've also used the "fixed range" method for drawing numbering, too, and it works pretty well if you're an OEM and have a similar product, or sets of similar products. Yeah, the customer has to get used to it (Customer?? Who cares what THEY think! LOL!) but it makes it really easy for the electricians and field service guys since they know where to look in the prints. It also makes it really easy to re-use drawings or parts of drawings from machine to machine.

Speaking of drawing conventions, a couple of jobs back we decided to do away with the "line numbers" that you often see down the left-hand side of a print. Not the wire numbers, but the line numbers that let you say something like "Look at Sheet 6, Line 37" or more often "Continued on Sheet 6, Line 37."

We figured that you weren't really giving much up descriptively, that you got some more space on the page, and that you then didn't have to worry about the numbers any more when doing or modifying the drawings. I haven't used them in over five years now, and haven't missed them.

Granted, if your drawings have a lot of "Continued on Sheet xx" in them, then the line numbering may still be a good idea. But for most of what I do, the few continuations are not hard to find even without a line reference.

 

[The Plc Kid]

We've been having a discussion about naming conventions for our electrical drawings.

I've been using a PROJECT_NAME-WD-XX name format where XX designates the sheet number.

Another person uses a PROJECT NAME ED-XX format.

I've also seen drawings that use E-PROJECT_NUMBER-XX and I-PROJECT_NUMBERXX naming formats.

What do ya'll use.

Alaric what does the WD stand for?

 

[TConnolly]

Wire Diagram
Electrical Diagram

Someone could argue over semantics for either WD or ED and make a good case for what each means.

Usually E, I, M, etc refer to the discipline, electrical, instrumentation, mechanical, etc.

 

[Mike Lamond]

Wire Diagram
Electrical Diagram

Someone could argue over semantics for either WD or ED and make a good case for what each means.

Usually E, I, M, etc refer to the discipline, electrical, instrumentation, mechanical, etc.

Wiring diagrams and electrical schematics are different drawings, as I learned early on. Schematics, usually in ladder or ISA loop format, are the format most of us are used to seeing and show complete circuits without regard to component location. Wiring diagrams show component layouts (inner panel, door, etc., usually not to scale), individual conductor connections to terminals on the components and the nominal routing of conductors in wire duct and harnesses.

Some organizations prefer to use wiring diagrams for fabrication or maintenance, but in my experience in water/wastewater and pharmaceutical controls there's almost no call for them. I had one job interview years ago where the plant maintenace manager got really hung up on the topic, but that's about it.

Our current numbering scheme is (5 digit project number)-(2 digit drawing number within job)-(E/I/M/P or other discipline letter code)(2 digit sequential sheet number). We don't bother to create new files with the revision number in the file name since our document storage system (written in-house) allows retrieval of each saved version.

In MS Word, the combination <Ctrl><Shift><-> creates a hard hyphen which won't break at the end of a line. It's handy for keeping filenames and such intact on one line instead of splitting between two lines.

Mike